Company fined for calling its pastries donuts

MADRID - Donut, or doughnut, may be a generic term in the English language for a deep-fried piece of dough, but from now on in Spain only one company has the right to use it.

A court in Barcelona ruled this week that Panrico has exclusive rights to describe its bakery products as donuts or doughnuts, and ordered a rival company to pay the firm EUR 34,000 in compensation for having called its similarly circular fried pastries doughnuts since 2004.

The offending party, Europastry SA, has also been ordered to pay EUR 600 a day until all its doughnuts are withdrawn from sale.

Confirming an earlier mercantile court ruling, the judge said the decision was based in part on the widespread recognition of the Donut brand, which Panrico registered in Spain in 1962.

He noted that by calling its products doughnuts, Europastry risked confusing consumers with the more widely known Donuts.